I'm right on the fringe of 3 and 4 here, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt for…read morenow and go 4 for the time being. I went here today with my kids and some friends and their kids (ages 6 to 8 months). It being a Sunday at 1ish, we figured we'd miss the lunch rush and be able to cruise in and out. Somewhat surprisingly, it was pretty much full (which isn't a bad thing), but we got lucky and were able to sit within about 10 minutes.
The place is quite fun with walled-off bar and table areas that adjoin at the front with an open space and the small music stage. The decor was cool with rough cut wood everywhere and TVs playing the Olympics (go US curling team!). And even though it was really busy, it wasn't all that loud given the number of people.
Once we got seated though is where things started going off the rails a bit. It took a little bit for our server to come see us and then even more time to take our orders. The whole time she seemed either disinterested or distracted and certainly in a rush. I also got that same kind of vibe from the other servers I saw bouncing around too. In any event, we got our orders in and then it took them quite a while to come out as well even though we didn't get anything really special - pot roast poutine and side salad for me, cheeseburger and fries for my son, pizza with black olives for my daughter, and then our friends got chicken fingers and fries and I think maybe another cheeseburger or something. All in all, I think we ended up being there around an hour and a half through no fault of our own.
For a beverage, I ordered myself an espresso martini. Now, mind you when I asked for a cocktail menu, they had none. They also "only" had 3 or 4 kinds of gin, to which our server told us that's not actually what it's called the "Gin" Mill for (not sure if that was sarcasm or serious). Either way, not really what I was expecting but oh well. It is a pub after all. On the flip side of that, I saw what looked like some really excellent looking cocktails being served up at the bar. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.
On the food side, my side salad was pretty basic - lettuce, green pepper, tomato, and onion. I asked for balsamic and ended up getting two ranch. Oh well, I still like ranch. The pot roast poutine was absolutely epic though. Is it trying to actively kill me? Of course it is with all that fatty meat, greasy fries, and gravy. Aren't I allowed to splurge for the sake of you readers out there though? The roast was melt in your mouth tender and some big chunks of it to boot. I brought about 3/4 home and it made excellent leftovers for dinner too!
The pizza was solid with a good cheese to sauce ratio, a nice, fluffy crust, and good overall taste and texture. I got a bite of my son's (plain) cheeseburger and it was also quite good with quality-looking bun and some really nice sear marks on the burger. The fries weren't my favorite with the sort of weird crunchy texture-style that like a Burger King has, but that's really just my personal preference.
At around 230 is when the band started playing, which was an older couple playing some country tunes. My kids decided to go out and dance for a couple minutes, which the musicians seemed to get a kick out of. It was tough to make out the words she was singing, but it was a fun vibe regardless and it wasn't obnoxiously loud either.
All in all (and cheating looking at some of the other reviews), it seems like this place has some front-of-house issues that need addressing but their food and drink are pretty solid. Since there's not a ton of food choices in town, I'd consider going again, but with EBC and others in walking distance, I guess there's not really any compelling reason that I should when I only make it down this way a couple times a year.